This blog will expand on themes and topics first mentioned in my book, "The Automobile and American Life." I hope to comment on recent developments in the automobile industry, reviews of my readings on the history of the automobile, drafts of my new work, contributions from friends, descriptions of the museums and car shows I attend and anything else relevant. Copyright 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 , 2016, 2017, 2018, by the author.

Friday, February 20, 2015

Auto Theft Alarm Systems: a Brief History

Raising an Alarm

The wave of
auto thefts in the early 1970s and the failure of manufacturers to make
products that were secure resulted in the rising popularity of aftermarket
security alarms. A wide variety of security alarm devices were available for
virtually every make and model of car, ranging in price from about $30 for
owner-installed devices to about $130 per unit for seller- or factory-installed
devices. In general, a security alarm system consisted of a control unit, a set
of sensors that might include pin switches installed at a door, trunk, and hood;
a motion sensor; a switch to cut off the starter motor; and a siren or horn to
indicate an attempted theft. More elaborate designs involved current draw,
wheel rotation, or ultrasonic detectors.

Electronic
alarms were not new to the 1970s. The technology occupied inventors as soon as they
thought that a solution to the problem was technologically feasible. For
example, a June 20, 1920 article in Popular
Mechanics reported that a loud alarm was devised by a Nebraska inventor
that:

. . . utilizes the drive-shaft to operate its own bell or
horn signal when the car is improperly moved. A friction gear, thrown into or
out of engagement with the shaft by a cam, is enclosed with the alarm in a
riveted steel case, fixed to the shaft housing and radius rods. The cam also
short-circuits the magneto, so that turning the key in the lock stops the
engine and sets the alarm. The lock is located in the floor of the driving
compartment.53

The mass market
auto theft alarm, however, only appeared after considerable development and
miniaturization made possible after the introduction of solid-state
electronics. The post-World War II design of automobile alarms began with
Victor Helman’s “Automatic Burglar Alarm” patented in 1954. Helman, from
Cleveland, Ohio, developed a technological system that included a secure, re-settable
control box that was connected to a number of switches securing doors, hood,
and trunk. If unauthorized use was detected, two electromagnetic solenoids
would trigger a current that energized a siren.54 Further
technological improvements to the concept of a car alarm were developed later
in the 1950s. For example, John Yurtz, also a Clevelander, came up with an
automobile theft alarm that was based on a motion sensor. Two vibrators, placed
in such a way that they were perpendicular to each other and thus could sense
motion in two planes, would activate a horn “upon the slightest agitation of
the vehicle.”55 In 1971 inventor Charles E. Davis solved the problem
of battery drain, namely, the shortcoming of alarm systems that either would
always be on or that would continue to sound off after activation.56

One auto
alarm kit that was claimed to be so effective that “The only way your car can
be stolen . . . is for the thief to pick it up bodily and carry it away” was
the 1967 Auto Sentinel.57 For a modest $15, one could construct a
device consisting of several relays, a switch, and a pair of resistors that
would be triggered by mercury switches or existing door switches that were
connected to the horn relay. For the would-be owner, all that was left to do
once the Auto Sentinel was mounted and alarmed was to “relax;” in reality, all
the thief had to do was to find the box and disconnect terminal 1!

Several
years later, Radatron Corporation produced an auto alarm kit that was designed
for beginners to construct, containing a 52 page instruction booklet that
concluded with the question “What did you learn?” Employing a power transistor
and a control box with five coded push buttons, the unit intermittently sounded
the vehicles’ horn when triggered by any electrical signal. A deterrent at
best, the manufacturer warned any would-be kit builder that it “does give
protection but should not be expected to foil a professional car thief familiar
with this type of alarm.”58 Do-it-yourself electronic alarm kits of
that era also often included motion sensors based on a pendulum. Unlike a
clock, though, the pendulum was designed to be still rather than to swing all
the time. Hanging straight down, it made no contact and thus the alarm was
silent. If someone opened a door or leaned on the car, however, the pendulum
swung on the low side making an electric contact that resulted in sound.59The weak point in all of these primitive alarm
systems was simply the power source used to energize them. All a thief had to
do was cut the battery cable to the car, and once that was done the alarm was
dead.

Chrysler
Corporation offered a more sophisticated system in 1973 that was certainly was
aimed at deterring at least the marginally skilled professional thief.60
Available on all full-sized Chrysler vehicles, the Chrysler Electronic Security
Alarm System featured an integrated circuit electronic control box coupled to a
series of sensors located in various areas of the car. When the sensor was
tripped by a forced door, trunk, hood, or unauthorized start, a pulsing horn
and flashing lights indicated that something was wrong. The Chrysler system
also featured a panic button on the dash that automatically locked all doors,
as well as energizing the horn and lights. The key to the door activated the
system, and deactivated it as well. It was a system that reflected the concerns
of a new age in American life, one in which unlocked doors and trusting glances
were replaced with suspicion and fear. Further improvements to kits evolved
during the late 1970s as electronics got better and better. Silicon-controlled
rectifiers and integrated circuits could be combined in such ways as to design
sequential digital code systems; unless all four numbers on a box were pressed
properly, the alarm system was still alive. Yet, this too could be
circumvented, as auto thieves often proved more ingenious than circuits.61

Factory-installed
systems from the early 1970s were far from effective. In the case of the
Corvette, for example, an alarm was installed beginning in 1972. It did little
to stop the seasoned professional thief, however, as reflected in the Senate
testimony of “X,” a specialist in stealing Corvettes between 1966 and 1977: “well,
all Corvettes after 1972 have an alarm. I would walk up and look at the fender
to see if the alarm was turned on, I would reach under the back, by the bumper,
and pull the wire out of it. That is how easy it is to disconnect the alarm.”62

One popular
device available during the 1970s and 1980s was sold by Chapman Security
Systems of Elk Grove Village, Illinois. David Arlasky, the founder and
president of Chapman Industries and the inventor of the CHAPMAN-LOK, was a
former auto thief. According to a company brochure, Arlasky purportedly knew “all
the tricks of the trade in car thievery. For almost two years, he was a car
repossessor [sic] for Chicago Banks. He ‘stole’ nearly 2,000 automobiles and
made enough money to put himself through college! ‘And professional car thieves
make a good deal more than I did,’ he says about the motivation behind auto
theft.”63 Technologically, the Chapman system consisted of a
key-operated hood and ignition lock placed under the dash. Protected by a steel
conduit that was strong enough to resist a bolt cutter, a wire was fed under
the dashboard to the automobile’s distributor, while a cable activated a dead
bolt lock firmly secured to the hood. Optional accessories included a flasher,
panic button, horn honker, sonic sensor, and glass sensor.

Alarm
systems deterred the joy rider, but not the professional auto thief, who had
expertise in cutting the right wire, thus disabling the system. And by the late
1990s, their effectiveness was challenged by both the insurance industry and civic
activists, who increasingly complained of false alarms. Statistics for 1997 tended
to conclude that there was no difference in theft losses if a vehicle had or
did not have an alarm system installed. Furthermore, critics cited the
statistic that some 95 to 99 percent of alarms were false, supporting the
notion that alarms merely degraded the urban environment. Finally, to reinforce
the contention that alarms did little to reduce the crime of auto theft, the
Progressive Insurance Company claimed that only 1 percent of citizens would
call police if they heard an alarm.64

58 comments:

Thanks for sharing its history. There are still some people who don't use auto theft alarm systems and thus, their cars experienced being theft. As a result, I need to get some cheap carfax vehicle history reports to know a car's entire history. I would definitely not fall for a lemon.

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From anywhere inside or just outside of your home, you can arm or disarm your home alarm system with this keychain remote which also duals as a panic button in case of emergency. Security System Providers In Plantation

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i had an add on called visabeam i think it was bought out by viper do you remember it ?it was a voice talking it sounded like a real voice when viper got it it didnt sound like a human anymore more like a computer voice.is that the right spelling for it visabeam?

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A car alarm system is an electronic device installed in a vehicle in an attempt to discourage theft of the like OEM alarms, aftermarket systems are usually armed and disarmed via remote.www.timensound.com

A car alarm system is an electronic device installed in a vehicle in an attempt to discourage theft of the like OEM alarms, aftermarket systems are usually armed and disarmed via remote.www.timensound.com

A car alarm system is an electronic device installed in a vehicle in an attempt to discourage theft of the like OEM alarms, aftermarket systems are usually armed and disarmed via remote.www.timensound.com

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